It took my family a while to get into the hype of Elf on the Shelf. I thought, “Oh, no. Yet another Christmas gimmick.” But you know what? After receiving our elf, Captain, in the mail from my aunt erm… Santa, he immediately became a fixture in our house during Christmas time. The kids LOVE Captain!

I thought for sure my super-literal and practical-brained child would just laugh the whole thing off, but he seriously bought into it last year. Not just that, we (unintentionally) used our Elf on the Shelf as a learning tool for correcting Captain’s naughty behavior. Each morning we would wake up, see Captain’s mischief, and talk to him about his behavior… we also asked him to apologize.

Our elf sure did get in a lot of trouble… and we had so much fun plotting his next move! But, I gotta say, it did get a little tricky trying to come up with so many things for him to do! And we didn’t even start on December 1st! So this year, we are going to make a list, and check it twice, of what Captain will be doing each day. To help you out, I am going to share Captain’s antics from last year with you… enjoy! Oh, and each morning, the kids discovered a handwritten note from our elf (Mommy got really good at writing left-handed) 😉

20 Days til Christmas – The Rescue Bots were not pleased with our new house guest. They captured him inside a mason jar while Captain was writing a note to our kids.

19 Days til Christmas – After this, the boys made Captain and the toys call a truce. They have been friends ever since.

18 Days til Christmas – Mischievous Captain climbed down a rope that hung from the curtains to reach the pictures.

17 Days til Christmas – Captain rode the sailboat back to the North Pole that night.

16 Days til Christmas – The boys forgot to clean up their popcorn mess, so Captain took full advantage!